


Everything's the same but we'd have like.. superpowers or some shit

by Exemai



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Breaking and Entering, Drug Use, First Kiss, Gay as an insult, I recommend watching SKAM Norway season 3 first if you haven't already, M/M, Only twice, SKAM Oslo Season 3 au, Underage Drinking, Weed Usage, Yosuke is Isak and Yu is Even, Yosuke just doesn't understand, Yu definitely cheated, drug references, it only happens twice, it's a close 1:1 but it's better if you know what you're getting into, late night swimming, sexual act references, this was long overdue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25640512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exemai/pseuds/Exemai
Summary: It starts when Yosuke loses Daisuke's weed stashIt ends with a few realisations and new relationships
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. The Silver Haired Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> Watch Skam season 3, you don't need to watch s1 or S2, they're stand alone seasons, watch it cowards, you won't regret.

The music was raging outside the room that Yosuke, Kou, Daisuke and Kanji were in; or rather, the bathroom they were in. 

The four boys had made a bong out of a plastic water bottle and were sharing it between themselves. Yosuke had just passed it to Daisuke who then in turn passed it to Kou. All the while they talk about girls they deem as 'fuckable'. 

"Oh, dude, what about Yuna?" One of them ask.

"Yuna? Yeah dude, she's hot." 

"Ehh.." Yosuke disagrees, getting a confused reaction from Kou next to him. "She's not fuckable." He reasons, again getting more confused reactions.

"What do you think?" Daisuke turns to Kou

"I think she's fuckable."

"You guys have such low standards." Yosuke tells them, "what's the deal?"

Kou looks him over, "what's with you? You gotta be a lot less picky, you're ugly as fuck." Kou takes the makeshift bong from Daisuke and brings it to his lips. 

"Come on," Daisuke encourages, "there has to be at least one girl you think is hot."

"All right, all right. One." He caves. "There's one, long light brown hair, I don't know her name but I've seen her around and she's hot."

Kou supports him, "she's cute, I've seen her too."

"Oh the one that looks like Jessica Biel?" Yosuke turns to Kou who chuckles at him.

"No way, you don't have a chance."

"Not in this life, and not in the next, dude." Daisuke grins.

Yosuke shakes his head, "oh come on, I stand a chance."

"The last guy she was with was a model."

"He was twenty, dark and tall and Yosuke, dude, you're neither." Kou doesn't pull any punches.

Yosuke furrows his brow, "why should I care?"

Kou drops his shoulders, "so you'll know her standards!"

Yosuke shakes his head, "it's not like she's looking for the same type of guy. I stand a chance." He reaffirms, getting himself a scattered laugh from his three friends.

After the conversation died, Daisuke handed Kou a small ziplock bag. "Take the stash."

"No way, I'm just as stressed as you; you take it."

"Just hide it outside."

"No, you hide it." They keep bickering until Yosuke butts in, claiming that he'll take the stash. Daisuke makes a fuss about it not being his but Kou backs him up, "If you're not gonna take it, then just let Yosuke stash it."

"I don't know him."

Kou responds, sounding baffled, "don't know- Dai what the fuck, you're sat smoking with him, you know him."

"Hey, this shit's expensive."

"He's in on the bag, I'd give it to him, I'm okay with it, who knows that the fuck this guy's doing." He references Kanji, who until now was a spectator to the ordeal. The comment gained a laugh from Yosuke. "Let him take it, I trust him."

"What would you guys do without me?" Yosuke says smugly, shoving the stash into the pocket of his hoodie.

At that moment, a girl comes into the bathroom, "I need to pee."

"Shut the door and get it over with." Kou tells her. The girl reaches under her dress and pulls down her underwear just enough without showing anything and uses the toilet. Its moments later when the girl Yosuke describes follows. 

"You can't just leave me with that nerd!" She tells her friend.

"I needed to pee." Meanwhile Kanji leans over Kou as the three of them give pointed looks to Yosuke. 

"It's your girl." He whispers, as the girls claim how bored they are. Yosuke's girl starts rummaging through the draws of the bathroom, clearly looking for something.

"Hi." Yosuke calls out to her, to no response. The boys tease him with a mocking 'good luck'. Yosuke's girl and her friend are looking over some pills before Yosuke speaks up again, "you know who you look like?"

"Uh.. yeah."

"A horse." Yosuke hums. The boys found the comment hilarious. "Yknow, you have a long face and a big forehead."

"That's so rude." Her friend pipes up.

"No, no it's cute!"

"If you're into fucking animals," Daisuke sniggers.

"Wait, what? I'm confused." 

"I'm kidding," Yosuke's expression turns serious, "I mean it. I'm just kidding, I'm sorry. I'm Yosuke, you?"

"Saki."

"Saki? You're gorgeous." 

Saki's friend scoffs, "let's get out of here?" Saki lingers as her friend heads towards the door, but not yet leaving. Saki picks up the pills she and her friend were planning on using. "Do you know if these work?"

Yosuke starts to stand up from being sat in the tub, "lets have a look." He takes the pills from her and scans them over. "These pills? They're for allergies, they'll make you tired. You want something that works?"

"That depends, do you have something like that?"

"Maybe." He smirks. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a white circular tablet, placing it on the end of his tongue, watching Saki's eyes flicker from his tongue to his eyes before gaining a small smile and closes the gap between them.

"I'm out of here." Saki's friend leaves the bathroom, and the boys follow in search for some food, giving Yosuke and Saki space as they made out.

"Fuck yeah, Yosuke." Kanji congratulates as he's one to leave the bathroom last. Yosuke smirks softly as starts to pull away from Saki's lips. 

Things between them start to heat up but Yosuke stops her before things go too far. Saki gives him a confused expression before they both leave the bathroom since her friend enters again but to tell her that another friend of theirs has arrived.

After some time Yosuke heads down the stairs of the party's building. Yumi approaches him, looking for something, or rather someone. "Have you seen Chie?" He shakes his head and Yumi walks off.

He lingers, not really doing anything until the police start to arrive. At this point, the stash that he had in his pocket grew heavy.. if they searched him he'd be in huge trouble.

Yosuke starts absently moving towards the opposite wall when a small pot catches his eye.. that'll work. He moves over and stashes the zip lock bag inside the small pot and heads towards the entrance, unknowing that Naoto lay eye level to the pot, looking on in disgust.

At the entrance, he sees people being searched and helped to stand, so he makes the judgement in his head that he should jump the hedge and pass by the cops altogether; so that's what he does.

But almost immediately he gets tugged on his hoodie and it's a policeman. "Hey, where you headed?"

"Home." Yosuke answers simply.

"Over the fence? Everyone else walked through the gate." Yosuke doesn't have an answer for the scruffy man. "Do you have any ID with your name and date of birth? A driver's license maybe?"

Yosuke hears a whistle, he quickly looks over and it's Kou, on his bike. "No, nothing like that."

The policeman hums, "your name?"

Yosuke gives him a fake name, tells them he's eighteen and when he's not paying attention, he runs for Kou's bike, the two of them managing to speed away.

The next morning, Yosuke runs his hand through his hair and groggily gets up, checking his phone. He's met with a barrage of messages.

One long drabble of a message from his dad that he makes a point to ignore, Yosuke's certain he's not been right in the head for a while so he moved in with Teddie and Ayane once Ai and her boyfriend Naoki were abroad. It was a nice break away from the stress of things at his dad's.

He then moves over to Kou's messages.

> Do you still have the stash?

> Call me when you get this, the police found weed at Chie's

> She's mad she thinks it's mine

Yosuke sits up more and runs another hand through his hair to wake up and rings Kou's number. It rang but it followed through straight to voicemail; with a huff, Yosuke hangs up. He can't say he didn't try.

He moves to text Kou instead.

> Pick up the phone then. I had to hide the stash at Chie's but what they found couldn't be ours because I was a mastermind hiding it.

> I'll fix this, give me a call later

Just as Yosuke sends the message, one of the roommates, Teddie walks in. "Yosuke..!" He grins, "Oh good you're awake, oh and on show too!" In the doorway stood Ayane and Teddie, Ai's two roommates. "Have a look, I call it the devil's pit."

In Teddie's hand was a phone, video call to Ai most likely, and he showed her the room and the two of them stepped closer to Yosuke's bed. They exchange 'good morning's and 'did you sleep well's before Teddie and Ayane sit either side of Yosuke with a "Say hi."

"Hi.."

"Oh ignore him, he's just being froggy," Teddie jokes.

"Hi, Yosuke." Ai greets.

"Hi, Ai." Teddie shuffles closer to him which earns a "piss off, Teddie."

"Relax!" Teddie defends, Ai takes this as a chance to change topic.

"What do you guys plan to do?"

"Just relax, I think." Ayane hums, with Teddie repeating. In between them, Yosuke has a range of confused expressions running over his face. 

"I'm gonna sell my topsicle collection.. nope just kidding. I'm going to the market and get some fish. Joking!" Yosuke pulls a face, what was he on about..? "I think Ayane and I are gonna have a movie night."

"Ah, that sounds nice.." Ai hums with a smile, Teddie asks her of her own plans. "Um.. I don't know, I'll come up with something."

"Like?"

"Well, Naoki's still working so I just.. I haven't made many friends yet, you see."

"Ai, here's what I think." Teddie tells her, "You're in London, a beautiful place."

"I know! I'm having lots of fun." She cuts him off, "I'll do lots of fun stuff today. I'll go to an art gallery."

"An art gallery?" She nods, "don't go to an art gallery, they're boring, dont go to a boring art gallery, do something fun! Go to a bar, have some drinks."

"I'm having lots of fun." She defends. Teddie tells her that they just want her to have fun, "I do have fun!" There's a moment of pause.

"So what's it like, living with Yosuke?"

"He doesn't pay rent, for starters!" Teddie's quick to jump in. Yosuke quietly says that he fully intends on paying. "He farts a lot too, he smells like farts. But you, Ai, you smell nice. Like lovely lavender, mwah!" Teddie and Ayane soon leaves, and Yosuke spends the day doing nothing worth noting.

But the next day at school, Kanji tells the story of how he hooked up with someone with a cat-like tongue, though he comments how he's unsure whether the tongue was fake or not. 

Uninterested, Yosuke casts his gaze forward, seeing a boy, maybe a couple years older than him, maybe by one or two, talking with someone stood up while he's sat down, feet on the table. He has silver hair.. that's the one characteristic that stands out to Yosuke most, all the while Kou, Daisuke and Kanji continue to talk about Kanjis encounter with a cat tongue.

The boy-across-the-way spots Yosuke staring, to which the brunet casts his eyes downwards. It was then Yosuke tuned back into the conversation which had turned into Kou and his experience with a girl in bed.

Yosuke, still uninterested, sees a text come in from his mother. 

> Hey, Yosuke, do you want to have dinner with me at my place on Wednesday night? Love, mom.

Yosuke seems to think for a second before sending a message back.

> I need money for rent,

> 40,000 yen

The boys continued their talk and Yosuke's mother sends in a text about how she already transferred over some money for his rent. It was at this moment Yumi and Naoto walk over.

"Hi!" Yumi greets cheerfully, "Did you guys wanna join in with the culture festival this year?" The boys give her non-commital responses. "We're the leaders of our team this year and we wanted you guys to join in!"

"The team? What do you do?"

"Oh, the main goal is to give out a really nice atmosphere to everyone. We spread love, bake, cook.." she smiles, "there's a meeting next Friday, did you guys wanna come along?"

"Friday?" Kou hums, "I don't know, it's Friday, you know?"

Yumi blinks, "But.. you guys are second years.. you're not first or third years.. you guys have to make yourselves known socially to avoid becoming totally anonymous.. is that what you guys want? To be a nobody?" None of the boys respond but Chie starts to edge closer to the girl, enby and boys sat around the lunch table.

"Ah Chie." Yosuke calls out, gaining her attention, "have you seen my messages? I left some headphones at yours."

"Mhm, I saw, I'll have a look." She nods.

Yosuke blinks, "but I know what they look like, I'll have to go over and grab them."

Chie furrows a brow, "you can tell me what they look like?"

Yosuke drops his shoulders slightly, this wasn't going to plan.. "right, sure um.. they're.. orange."

Chie gives a small confused smile, "a set of orange headphones.. got it, can't miss 'em." And with that, Chie walks away, leaving the four boys with Yumi and Naoto.

"Let us know if you want to join!" Yumi sounds cheerful as ever and Naoto gives an, almost sarcastic, smile.

The boys look over to Yosuke and Kou gives him an exasperated look, "headphones? Seriously?"

Daisuke squints slightly, "what's going on?" Yosuke quickly explains he had to hide the weed at Chie's place. "You're kidding me."

"I'll fix it."

"You owe me 10,000 yen."

"Daisuke. I said I'll fix it."

A few days later, on Wednesday, Yosuke's sat in biology, staring at nothing until Naoto sits beside him. "Hi." She smiles.

".. Hi." 

"I have your drugs." They say simply. Yosuke expresses his confusion. "The stuff you left at Chie's. I have it." 

"You have it..?"

Naoto turns with a scowl on their face. "If there's one thing I don't like, it's when someone fucks their friends over."

Yosuke blinks, "What.. I- I don't get it."

"Chie could have been in huge trouble if they found it."

"But they didn't-"

"Cause I took it." Naoto wasn't happy.

"Okay.. I'm sorry for leaving it there, and thanks for taking it.. I need it back it's not mine." Yosuke tries to reason with them.

"I deserve compensation, for saving it."

"Naoto, this isn't a TV B-list drama, can't you just give it to me?" They're silent for a moment before claiming they want ten percent of the drugs. "You smoke?"

"No. But it's good to have. I also want you and your friends to join the team." Their smile lightens, "we're going to have the best team of them all."

Yosuke caves, "Okay. Whatever, we'll join your silly little team. So you'll give it to me?"

"Yes."

"So give it to me now."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Naoto argues, "you'll get it when I see you and your friends at the meeting on Friday." After Naoto gives themselves a smug look, the teacher calls out that Yosuke and Naoto would work together for biology this term. "Huh? What? No.. I'm not sitting here."

"Can't you work with Yosuke? C'mon it'll be fine, guys and girls can work together too, you know. That's how we do things here." The teacher hands them the worksheet and moves on.

Finally Friday arrives and Yosuke's sat in the meeting hall on his own. He had brought it up with Kou, Daisuke and Kanji, he really had. But clearly they didn't give a shit, honestly, just like Yosuke. He's only here to get Daisuke's weed back.

Yosuke looks down at his phone while Yumi, Chie and Naoto stand at the door, welcoming people as they arrive. "Hi! Welcome, thanks for coming!" Yumi's voice. As cheerful as ever.

Yosuke sends a message to his friends about where they were, and so far, to no avail. But then.. the-boy-across-the-way walks in. All of a sudden, Yosuke's finding everything else in the room far more interesting.

Yumi's welcoming him, offering a homemade bun. He takes one, thanking the girls and takes a seat behind Yosuke. His phone dings. It's Kou, he's not coming.

Neither was Kanji.. but Yosuke's distracted from being annoyed when he hears Saki's voice greet him.

"You're here!" She beams, Yosuke gives a small nod, "y'know I was wondering where all the cool people were, so I checked the guest list and.. here they all are."

The team leaders at the front, Chie, Naoto and Yumi give a small speech, introducing themselves, the project and their 'mission' but Yosuke couldn't be more bored. He's sneaking onto his phone, trying to pay at little attention to the three standing at the front as possible.

Yumi explains that things will be done in pairs to complete things ready for that the final day, when all the teams show off what they've done. "It's really important that we give lots of good vibes. So I thought we could do an exercise! If everyone could stand?"

This was it, this was Yosuke's moment to get away. This was the best opportunity, so he does. He gets away. Now he's wandering the hall aimlessly, his arm raised and his hand running along the wall as he walks.

Eventually, he's sat in a toilet stall playing a mobile game. Once he grows bored he leaves the stall and looks to his left.. it's that silver haired guy again.. he's just finished washing his hands and is now.. taking.. all the paper towels from the dispenser.

Right, okay.

It's after he uses the very last one does he notice Yosuke standing there and recognises that he needed a paper towel too. He rummages through the pile he made and picks up a relatively unused on. "Here.. this should do?" He smiles and reaches for the rolled up joint held by his ear. "Join me outside."

Yosuke stands there for a second, doing just that, heading outside in the dark. The older had just lit the joint and offers some to Yosuke, who takes it and joins him on the bench, sat on its back rest, their feet on the seat.

"You know the group leader?" The stranger asks him.

"Yumi?" Yosuke chuckles slightly, "with that exercise game."

"What was that?" He laughs.

"Nah. I had to bail. I wasn't joining in that. What did you do?"

"Uh.. we had to walk around and feel each other up in the dark." The silver haired boy starts. "If you touched a guy's dick, you had to suck it."

The extremity of it hits Yosuke that, it's obviously not true. "No?"

"No." He repeats smiling with a chuckle on his breath.

There's a silence that passes over them, but it's oddly comfortable as the two boys pass the drugs back and forth between them.

"What class are you?" Yosuke finally asks.

"3-C." Ah.. so he's older than Yosuke by one.. but..

"You weren't here last year." Yosuke's sure that he doesn't recognise his silver hair.

"That's right, I transferred."

"In your final year?" The stranger that's now less strange didn't get chance to answer when Saki jogged over.

"Hey guys!" The two boys greeted her, "we're starting to split up into pairs, I don't know that many people, well, my friends are teaming up together. So I was wondering, Yosuke, if you'd group with me."

The silver haired boy nudged him, "Hey, I thought you said we were gonna pair up." How was it he could sense that Yosuke felt like avoiding her..?

"Yes. Yes, that's right. Um.. I agreed to team with.." he points to the silver. He still doesn't know his name.. 

"Yu." Yu reaches over to shake Saki's hand.

"I'm Saki.." she hums. "I'm sure we can be a three."

"I think she said pairs but," Yu nudges Yosuke again, "I don't really care."

"Yumi seemed really insistent on wanting pairs." Yosuke said softly. Saki was hot, why was he not wanting to spend time with her? "I'm sure you can ask though."

"Yeah.." Saki agrees, "Then we'll do that."

Yosuke nods, "Yes, lets. I'm sure it's fine." Yu offers him a puff but he turns it down, to which Saki speaks up and asks if she could instead.

Yu happily offers her the joint and she takes a draw, joining them on the bench, Yosuke sandwiched in the middle.


	2. Everything's better with cardemom.

That following weekend, Yosuke's sat in his bed with Teddie laying there as well and the brunet is searching for Yu on Facebook, Instagram, anywhere. But.. nothing.

Teddie.. he was on a dating app, specifically Grindr. The blond sits up and shows Yosuke his phone, "hey, Yosuke do you think this guy is cute?"

"How would I know?" Teddie drops his shoulders, claiming that he didn't even look so Yosuke looked and still shrugs, "yeah, sure he's cute I guess."

"Yosuke, you can call other guys cute without being gay yourself." Yosuke pulled a face.

"I said he's cute?"

"Imma meet up with him," he chuckles softly. "He says he's not gay. I give it a year until he comes out the closet."

"What- I.. Teddie why do you have to say that, not every guy you meet is gonna be gay."

"I don't think every guy is gay, Yosuke." Teddie hums, "but I have a pretty good gaydar, y'know?"

Yosuke huffs, "I hear that everywhere, what even is that, what is the classic characteristics of a gay guy?"

Teddie makes a big dramatic sigh, "Okay. An example is.. um.. oh- like when someone starts talking about sucking dick with a stranger. Having a Grindr profile is pretty suspicious, too."

Then, Teddie's phone rings, "Hi!" He leans into Yosuke, "It's Ai," he whispers, "In Yosuke's room." A pause, "oh ugh, but actually um, it's better now, he cleaned it a bit." He stands and leaves Yosuke's room. He spends the rest of the day on his laptop.

That very next Monday, Yosuke's found himself at the sign-up sheet and looks for Yu's name and.. yeah there it is. 'Yu Narukami'?

He heads into an empty classroom and pulls out his laptop at the back of the room. He goes onto Facebook and finds nothing. Yosuke decides to just search on Google directly and it takes him to a link, it has a video of someone who clearly looks like Yu in it.

_"Hey, hey, Yu, tell us about that movie." One of his friends asks him. Yu grins, he knows the video is gonna be comical._

_"It's.. a movie about people having super powers. People lie to themselves constantly so once they fully accept what they lie to themselves about they get so many powers."_

_The camera is zooming in and out on his face, "Yeah? Are there any dicks or something? Y'know, shock factor?"_

_"There's a huge dick in a chariot. It goes hard when it uses a spell." The sound effects and zooming stop._

_"Dude, you're not serious." Yu laughs._

_"Fully serious!"_

_"Okay okay okay okay, new question. Favourite movie director?"_

_"Baz Luhrmann." He says almost instantly._

_"Baz, fucking, Luhrmann?"_

_"Why are you so skeptical?" Yu laughs at him._

_"He makes shitty stories where the characters die."_

_Yu looks over at the boy behind the camera, "he makes epic love stories man! The main character has to die otherwise it's not an epic love story."_

Yosuke watches this in its entirety with a small smile until Naoto sits down and he quickly closes the laptop.

"Hello." They give a knowing, smug smile.

"Do you have my stuff?" He asks plainly.

"What stuff?" Yosuke pulls a face.

"What do you mean 'what stuff'?"

They lean in slightly, "I thought you said it wasn't yours."

"C'mon, just give it to me."

They lick their lips, planning their words, "I didn't see your friends at the meeting, either."

"Well it's not like I can force them, can I? C'mon I can't keep doing this."

Naoto nods slightly, "neither can I." Yosuke looks confused, "where do you want it?"

"You have it on you?" They nod, Yosuke reaches down for his bag and Naoto does the same, moving them next to each other.

They reach into their bag and start to move the zip lock bag from their own and move it to Yosuke's. But by this time, Biology has started, and the teacher calls them out for not paying attention. Naoto has to drop the bag back into their own.

Later on, Yosuke finds Yumi leaving the school, "Hey, Yumi.. do you know about any other team meetings soon?"

She beams at him, "oh it's so good you're getting involved! We don't have any meeting this week, but next week we're having a party! It means we'll be having a pre-party and I was wondering if you could host?"

Yosuke blinks, "Why me?"

"My mom's holding a drama workshop, Chie's place is trashed from last time and Naoto's apartment is too cramped for us to use." She explains, "but your place is big enough to host!"

"..I guess?"

"Yo." Kou greets, the other boys circling around them.

"Hi! Yosuke's gonna host the pre-party for the team party next Friday! Did you wanna join in?"

The boys start to laugh, "a team pre-party?"

"Why the fuck would you host that?" Yosuke shrugs. He didn't exactly say yes or no but she just made the decision for him.

"Why are you laughing? Do you think it's stupid? The culture festival lays the social foundation for your new year at school, you should get involved!" She keeps talking about how it's important to get involved but Yosuke's gaze falls on Yu, walking behind Yumi.

He has a cigarette in his ear and walks along to his other third year friends, he couldn't focus on anything she was saying. He has his hands in his pocket and he looks over his shoulder, locking eyes with Yosuke.

This time Yosuke doesn't look away and he watches the taller walk over the courtyard. Even as Yu sits on the brick wall with two of his other friends, Yosuke watches him intently. 

It was obvious he was spacing out but Saki breaks him out of his daze. "Hey, did you get my message?"

Yosuke blinks and shakes his head softly, "no.. sorry, I didn't get it."

"Oh.. um, well we're having a pre-party on Friday and we were wondering if you wanted to come along." She crosses her arms.

"Friday?" Yosuke runs a hand through his hair, "I don't know, i-"

Daisuke cuts him off, "Yosuke has brain damage, we'll be there."

The answer makes Saki smile, "Nice, cool, I'll text you later."

"The fuck, are you gay or something?"

Yosuke shakes his head, "I don't know I get psycho vibes from her."

"Who cares if she's psycho, Yosuke?"

Yuki shakes her head, "where are these girls getting the confidence from? It's cuter for the guys to ask the girls to parties."

Kou blinks, taking a second to think, "wait, what's the problem with that?"

"The problem is that there's a system! All these couplings, there's going to be no one left for people like us to fuck!"

Kanji considers his words carefully. "Well.. if a fuck is what you're wanting.. I'm available?" The boys drop their heads, Kou rubbing a hand against his temples. 

"Don't be rude!" Yumi frowns with a small scowl and turns away.

"Kanji, dude, you're an idiot."

The blond blinks, "the fuck did she mean by that?" The boys start walking away to the highstreet with Kanji tailing along behind, "is she playing me?"

Now it's Friday, one in the morning, and Yosuke's watching the video that Yu starred in, talking about his movie.

_'"Fully serious!"_

_"Okay okay okay okay, new question. Favourite movie director?"_

_"Baz Luhrmann." He says almost instantly._

_"Baz, fucking, Luhrmann?"'_

Yosuke pauses the video there. Searching Baz Luhrmann and getting a wide range of results. After a Wikipedia search and another quick google, Yosuke finds 'Romeo and Juliet' starring DiCaprio.

He purchases the movie in HD and spends the rest of the early hours of morning watching the film. He bunches up his covers and rests his chin on them, laying on his front with his laptop in front of him. 

A tear rolls down his cheek as the credits roll. The movie finally ends and he's laying on his back, laptop closed on his stomach and Yosuke's staring at the ceiling. Was that the kind of romance movies Yu liked?

Yosuke picks up his phone again, he once again searches for Yu's name and finds nothing. Yosuke's mind flicks back to Teddie mentioning Grindr.. it can't hurt right?

He goes to install the app and inputs his information to make an account. Within moments he's getting messages that he definitely doesn't want to think about any more. He puts his phone face down and lays back up at the ceiling.

Finally Friday midday rolls around, Yosuke and the boys are on the highstreet after school and Kanji's claiming that he's going to be on his best game that night and sleep with one of the girls at Saki's party.

"One girl at least and you guys are gonna help me." He claims.

Yosuke laughs, "we'll be sat next to you telling you what to do."

"I'm pumped." Kou grins, "and you owe me booze." He turns to Yosuke.

"The fuck?"

"Yeah the party a couple weeks back I gave you nearly my entire six pack."

"No way, back in may I gave you like three beers."

"Yeah, May, that was ages ago."

Daisuke pipes up into their conversation, "it's true."

Yosuke scoffs playfully, "why are you saying it's true, you weren't there." Meanwhile Kou grinned claiming that 'he gets it'. Yosuke gives in, telling them that Teddie could get the alcohol for them. "I'm off then." He gets ready to leave the boys.

"Text the time we should be there."

Yosuke nods, "yeah, I'll find out. Later!"

Moments later Yosuke's sat on the railing messaging Teddie, waiting for the bus.

> Hey, you home? 

> Can u buy me some beer?

He's stood near the door when the bus opens up and he stands at one the railings that let you stand while the bus moves. Teddie types back that he's working til nine. "Hey." Yosuke looks up, it's Yu.

"Oh, hi."

"Headed home?" Yosuke nods.

"And you?" Yu nods, and gives a small smile. His eyes shift from Yosuke's phone back to him. 

"Nice chat." Yu jokes, giving Yosuke a smile, and earning one in return

"Wait.." Yosuke starts, "you're eighteen, right? Could you buy me some beer?" Yu nods, taking Yosuke to a small convenience store. 

Yosuke's waiting outside while Yu's inside, and before long the taller exits empty handed. "Forgot my ID, I gotta go home and grab it, come with me?"

Yosuke stands still for a moment before deciding to follow Yu.

They get inside and Yu calls out to see if anyone was home. "Nice." He says when he gets no answer. They take off their shoes and Yu moves to the bedroom, where there's a bunk bed set up. 

He's looking both bunks over, looking for something and Yosuke's wandering around the room, spotting some doodles pinned to the dresser. "You draw these?"

"Yeah."

Yosuke smiles, "they're really good."

"Thanks."

"They're funny."

Yu chuckles, "you think so?" Yosuke hums, letting him know that yes, he thinks so.

"Here it is."

"You found the beer?"

"Not exactly, but.." he shows Yosuke a rolled up joint. Yosuke chuckles and grins. 

Now they're sat at the window, passing the joint between them. Yu's pulled the hood of his jacket over his head while Yosuke sits in front of him on the windowsil.

"Have you skipped any school yet?" Yosuke asks. 

"Not really. I've just left a few classes early." They laugh. 

"Ah, you don't know the system yet, I've skipped a few hours."

"What's the limit?" Yu hums.

"The limit is ten percent. Fifteen if the principal likes you."

Yu chuckles, "really?" 

"Yeah, but I don't think he likes me." They both laugh.

"What music do you listen to?" Yu asks, taking a puff of the joint.

"Oh, I'm a fan of anything really. I usually listen to Nickelback."

The taller laughs, "that's what gets you going before school?"

"It's what you want to listen to if you want to walk around feeling tough." Yosuke leans back and looks around the window.

"Have you ever listened to Kanamin Kitchen?" Yu asks. 

"Kanamin kitchen?"

"You kidding? You haven't checked them out?"

"No, no, I've listened to it. Kanamin. Kanami?"

Yu starts to laugh, "doesn't sound like you've listened to them?"

"I have listened.."

Yu smiles, "we'll listen to them later."

From then, the two laugh, share stories, listen to music. Yu's laugh.. something about it. His smile. The way his eyes creased when he smiled.

Yosuke couldn't keep his eyes off him, and when Yu caught him staring he looked down and smiles softly.

Yu takes him to the kitchen, he's making the two of them toast. "That's one sweaty cheese." Yosuke comments, sat on the counter.

"Yeah. I forgot about it when I went to school today. I forgot it's been sat out all day." Yosuke laughs, "that happened to you before?"

"Oh, yeah, I always forget the cheese."

Yu grins, "you too? Damn, looks like it's a first world problem." Yosuke nods, beaming.

"Cheese and keys." Yosuke jokes. It makes Yu laugh, "especially cumin cheese. They're the things I forget the most." Yu moves to the fridge and Yosuke's eyes don't leave him.

"Beer?" Yosuke smiles softly and nods, so Yu brings two over. "That's for you." He hands the glass bottle to him, clinking them together, "cheers."

"Cheers." Yosuke takes a swig.

"Okay, so seasonings. What did you want? How about.." he reaches for the first spice. "Caribbean Jerk Barbecue?"

Yosuke repeats the name, "perfect, let's go."

"Chilli?"

"Always chilli."

"Rosemary?"

"Loads of rosemary."

Yu chuckles, "loads of rosemary." Yu offers a spice that he struggles to pronounce, and adds it when Yosuke tells him to.

It's at this point Yosuke checks his phone. He has messages from Kou.

> When do we have to be as Sakis?

> U got the beer?

> Answer me

And messages from Saki.

> Hey! We're gonna start partying at 7

> Riddler lives in downtown just give us a call at the gas station and I'll come meet you

> When do you plan to come?

\-----NEW-----

> Oh and my friends were wondering if you could bring more what you gave me at that party in the bathroom?

> If it's not too much trouble!

"Cinnamon?" Yu asks, still adding spices to their toast.

Yosuke squints, "Yeah, fuck it."

Yu grins adding the spice, "this is going to taste like shit. We can't turn back now!"

"Nope, no turning back." Yu hums that he'll have to add more pepper.

Yosuke turns back to his phone, replying to Kou first.

> Sorry dude, Saki and her friends cancelled the pre-party so imma just chill at home

He turns back to Saki's texts.

> Sorry we forgot we had plans, maybe another time?

"All done?" Yu asks, "into the oven?"

Yosuke grins, "let's go."

Soon they're sat on the floor of Yu's bedroom with the bunk beds from before and they're eating their toast concoction. They both grimace. "There's something not right there.."

"It's absolutely terrible." Yosuke shakes his head softly.

"It was so bad now it's kinda good."

"No, it was so bad that it's getting worse."

"You wanted to use all those spices." Yu defends.

"Hey, cardamom is very important, okay?"

Yu laughs softly, "that's the trick? For it to taste good?"

"Surely the rumours of my rapping has gotten to you?"

Yu nods, "it has actually."

"Go on then give me a beat." Yu starts to give a beat but starts to lose breath after a couple loops, "Oi!" Yosuke laughs, "focus!"

Yu's laughs calm and he hears the doorbell ring, "oh sh- what time is it?"

"Ten to eight."

Yu stands up from the floor. "I've invited a few people over for a pre-party. You can stay though, I have enough beer."

Yosuke nods, "no problem." He stays on the floor, waiting for Yu to come back with his guests. He hears voices.. female voices. He stands and brushes himself off to greet them.

Two females and a male walk through, and Yu tells them to introduce themselves. One of the girls give her name and so does the guy, but Yu introduces the last girl. "This is Rise, my girlfriend."

"Hi, nice to meet you."

Yosuke nods slightly, "yeah.. I'm Yosuke.. you too." Something in him just.. sinks. They're taking between themselves, sharing a kiss or two but.. Yosuke feels his mood drop, it sucks.. they were having fun too. He feels like a third wheel.

Then he gets a text from Daisuke. 

> Why are you lying?

> We just talked to Saki and her friends.

Yosuke reads the text over and over. This definitely sucks.


	3. Pre-party this; pre-party that

The first thing Yosuke reads is Saki's text to her finding out he lied to her.

> hey, wanted to say that I talked to your friends and found out you didn't have other plans. If you're not interested, that's ok but don't say you're coming when you're not. That's really shitty.

Between this and Daisuke's message, he's really fucked, he starts reading more of the texts she sent him, each angrier than the last.

> Hello? Is it so hard to answer?

> I'm sorry I called you an asshole, you might have a good reason but can you answer?

> ASSHOLE

He looks up to see people playing with a basketball. He doesn't know how to respond. Is there even a right way out of this?

"Yo." Daisuke greets. 

"Hey, traitor." 

Yosuke chuckles sheepishly, "Traitor? Fuck."

"That was really lame of you."

Daisuke's sat on the bench next to him with a confused expression. "You just let us down, what's with that?"

"Yeah.. yeah, I'm sorry, Daisuke. I.. there was a lot of stress."

"Stress? What stress? What do you mean?"

"Look I'll arrange a new pre-party."

Kou hums, "yeah, but what kind of stress?"

"Something came up with my dad." Kou's brow furrows, he's really the only one who knows Yosuke's struggle with his relationship with his dad.

"Your dad? What's up?" Daisuke tilts his head

"He's stressed."

"He's stressed? My parents have been stressed since I arrived on this earth and you're talking about stress?"

Kou looks down, almost sympathetically, "how is he?"

"He's fine."

"Just arrange a new pre-party. Case closed." Daisuke tells him 

"Case closed!" Kou repeats, a chuckle in his breath.

"Closed."

On Monday, three am.. Yosuke can't sleep. He's staring at the ceiling. He reaches for his phone and.. fuck.. another text from his dad.. can't he just leave Yosuke alone already? Can't he get the hint?

He puts the phone away and reaches for his laptop, just absently scrolling through Facebook. He scrolls far enough to find a selfie of Saki. He lingers on it. He's one-hundred percent fucked. 

There has to be a way to make it up to her but.. does he really want to? 

Absently, he pulls up a screen that reads 'THE GAY TEST'. He doesn't know what he's thinking but.. why not, right? 

He reads it over and clicks start. With twenty questions, Yosuke answers them honestly. These questions are strange. Money for a haircut? Who pays more than 1000 yen for a haircut?

The test finishes, and as a percentage, he earns himself right to say he's 'twenty percent gay'. The corners of his mouth raise just slightly. There's a dodged bullet.

But then he wonders, and he puts that wonder into a search bar. 'How to get turned on if you're gay?'

It looks like Yosuke wasn't the only one with this question since a large range of results came up, mostly forums, question and answer websites.

He clicks one that reads 'can a gay person, even if he doesn't enjoy it, if put in the position to have sex with a woman, still be turned on by it?' 

It was a lengthy way to ask but it did the job, Yosuke supposes. He skips past a long answer, he doesn't have the time and sees a much shorter, concise answer.

'I get drunk and focus on what's attractive about the woman. Works for me.' It's that simple? It can't be that simple.

It's later that day, and Yosuke's struggling at his locker. His books fall and he struggles to put them back. He shoves them back in and tries to force the locker door closed.

"Hi!" It's Yumi.

"Can you hold these please?" Yosuke dumps the books he has in his hands at the moment and continues to try closing his locker.

"I'm sending out the invites soon, I wanted to ask if we can have the pre-party a bit earlier?" Yumi asks, blinking a little when she got handed the books.

Yosuke huffs proudly when he closes his locker. "No. I won't be having a pre-party."

"..Why not?"

"Well.. I live with other people, they don't want to have a pre-party."

"I.. talked to Teddie.. he said he was fine.. over the moon actually." 

Yosuke blinks, "that's just Teddie. I talked to Ayane, you know how she is, she doesn't want to have the pre-party at ours."

"Honestly though, Yosuke? What does Ayane want? She doesn't want anything other than being treated seriously. She's tiny!" Yumi tells him. "You live with her, you should take the responsibility to get her out of the house and socialise! You're hosting. Friday at six." 

Yumi pushes Yosuke's books back into his hands and walks off. He's walked right into that one.. he looks up and sees Saki.. now's his chance right? He should talk to her. 

He thinks about what he should say. He has to be careful. He starts walking up to her. What should he open with? An apology? A joke? Something else?

"Hi." He greets, it was much lighter than it should have been, evident from how she glared right through him. "Shit.." he pauses. "So, um.. I need some advice."

Saki's expression doesn't change and she keeps changing things in and out from her locker. "See.." he starts, "there's this really cute girl and I've made her pissed." Yosuke hums, "she has good reason to be, too. I fucked up on a promise I made to her. It was shitty of me. So my question is.. do you think I should shoot myself?"

Yosuke lightens up when he gets a smile out of her. He asks if this girl in question thinks she could forgive him. That he doesn't mind when she forgives him, as long as she does forgive him.

"Jerk." She whispers, still smiling. 

"I'm a jerk?" Yosuke chuckles, "you think I'm a jerk? Fuck them that's two girls who think so. The cute one, and you." Saki makes a face, grinning and walking away. "Oh, were you trying to kill me with that look?" He laughs, following her, "was that what you were trying to do?"

And now.. somehow Yosuke found himself watching the girls' dance rehearsal with the other three boys. The girls were.. well it was as if they were in slow motion. The three boys were on the edges of their seats. Kanji looked close to biting off his entire fingernail.

But Yosuke..? His brow was furrowed. Like he's confused. Why isn't this doing anything for him anymore? Wait.. just remember what the forum said. Just focus on what's attractive. He's not drunk but it would have helped.

No matter how much he focused on what was attractive he just.. couldn't. Eventually, they finished and Kanji applauded. 

"So, it's like this. We need six of you for the culture festival so we'll let you know within the week. Thanks!" The instructor told them. He turns to the boys and gives a look. "Shows over, boys."

"Really good. Bravo, wow." Yosuke looked down at Kanji who was still applauding. He really needed a fuck.

Yosuke turns to Kou with a small scoff. "Did he have to be so gay?"

Kou blinks, "huh?"

"You didn't notice? He was really gay."

"Why are you giving him shit for being gay?"

Yosuke looks confused, "I wasn't giving him shit, it was just really obvious."

"Okay.. but you're just pointing out he's gay or..? Great observation, Yosuke."

"What's up with you?" Kou blinks

"With me?"

"You're acting like you're pissed."

"Huh? Me?" 

"Yeah."

"You're the one who's so fucking grouchy!"

"Grouchy?"

"Yeah, like the other day, when we talked in the classroom-"

Yosuke cuts him off, "what the fuck are you talking about?"

"Hey." It's.. Yu? "You forgot this last Friday." He throws Yosuke a pair of headphones. 

Yosuke looks up at him. Last Friday.. the day he lied to both his friends and Saki.. and Yu just mentioned it in front of said friends. "They're yours, right?"

Kou hums, "aren't those ones mine?"

Daisuke pipes up, "forgot where?" 

"The lunch room." He answers simply and walks off. 

"Who was he?" Kou asks him

"Him? Just some guy from Yumi's culture festival team."

"Oh!" Kanji speaks up, "fuck, my dream yesterday. Fuck!" The three boys turn to him. "Yumi. She was punish-fucking me because I got with another girl."

The three laugh at him, "you're insane."

"Craziest dream I've ever had. So wild."

"What did she do?"

"She was totally in charge, I didn't do a thing. It was crazy."

"Your imagination is insane."

Finally, Friday arrived. Everyone was wearing neon paints on their arms and faces. Yosuke was sat on the couch with Saki, chatting and laughing away, as Teddie wore a pink wig.

"So," Yosuke smiles, "what music do you listen to?"

"That's a hard question." She chuckles. "My favourite music is.. Katy Perry.."

Yosuke lowers his head into his hand, "oh my god."

"Was that bad?" She laughs, "oh no!"

"It's giving me a headache."

"You get a migraine from Katy Perry?"

"I'm leaving. Wait I can't leave, I live here. Could you leave?"

"You're throwing me out because I like her music?" She laughs, "what kind of music do you like?"

"Do you know Nickelback? That kind of stuff."

"Uh.. no, I don't think so."

"You don't know anything about it?" Yosuke hums, "what about Kanamin Kitchen?"

"Huh?"

"They made one of the best albums of all time, I'll message you the name, listen to it."

"Hi!" Yosuke hears from across the room. It's Yuki's voice and she's greeting Yu and Rise. "Yumi, nice to meet you!"

"Hi, I'm Rise."

"I don't know if you can feel this." Saki takes his hand and places it on her chest, "feel this underwire here?" He nods, this would normally get a guy going right? So why isn't he? "It's pinching me under my arm and it's gonna be like that until I get home."

Yosuke's aware that Yu has his eyes on him, since he's looking at him too.

"You should be glad you're not a girl." Yosuke finishes the beer he has in his hand and starts to lean into Saki, "especially when-" she's cut off when he kisses her.

They sit there making out for a few moments until Yu sits down on the other side of Saki. "Hey, it looks like you're bonding too much. I thought we were a team."

Saki gives him a side hug, "Yu! Hey!"

"Cool apartment." Yu smiles, shaking Yosuke's shoulder.

"Thanks."

"It's really nice here." Saki smiles, "it's a shared apartment there's always cool people here. Like Teddie! Have you met him?"

Yu shakes his head slightly, "no I don't think so."

"He's gay, he's really sweet." She giggles, "I love gay people, they're funny."

"Don't you think that's a bit of a generalisation?" Yu furrows his brow slightly.

"By saying gay people are funny?"

"It's like saying all Muslims are terrorists."

"What?" Saki shakes her head, "that's too extreme, it's not like that. Being funny is positive! It's a compliment. A terrorist is negative, an insult."

"It's not what you said, but you were generalising gays. Not all gays are funny."

"This is boring. Come dance with me, Yosuke." She stands from the couch and holds a hand out for Yosuke to take.

He stands with her, dancing along to the music with a can in hand. He's dancing and smiling at her, but his eyes flicker over to Yu and Rise. 

They're closing in for a kiss and Yosuke can't look away. He looks back to Saki and she's closing in too. He lets her place her lips on his but his eyes.. his eyes stay open and are trained on Yu.

And before long.. Yu's eyes lock with Yosuke's. They're both kissing their girls and staring at each other. Yosuke doesn't find it in him to look away so instead he closes his eyes and focuses on Saki again.

Later on, Chie's heckling people to start getting ready to leave. "We have ordered four taxis!"

Yosuke's helping clean up and he looks over to Saki, Rise and Yu. Saki and Rise were talking with each other and Yu was staring at him with a small smile.

"Yosuke?" Saki hums, "Me, Rise and Yu are taking a taxi together. Did you want to join us?"

"Oh, no it's okay. I'm taking the bike."

"Oh, okay no worries."

Yosuke's now at the sink, pouring away the remainder of the alcohol in the cans down the sink. He turns around and sees Yu walking up behind him.

"I thought you took a taxi with the others."

"I have a bike."

Yu takes a few cans and starts helping him empty them so he can put them into recycling. "Were you having fun with Saki?"

"She's something."

"Y'know me and Rise have been dating since we were like fifteen?"

"Okay.." why would he tell him that? It doesn't mean much.. "we're starting to grow apart though, I notice. I can't just dump her."

He wants to dump her..? "Okay..?"

"If I dump Rise, she'll think it's because of her aluminium arm." Yosuke blinks furrowing his brow.

"Huh?"

"You didn't know?"

"An aluminium arm?"

"Yeah her entire arm was amputated."

"What? How did that happen?"

"Caught her arm in a moving train, took the arm clean off, they had to amputate what was left."

"Shit.."

"It was pretty bad."

"I didn't know."

"She's had a lot of help recently from uh- what are they called, physiotherapists. They've helped with the motor skills. The tech's come so far you can barely see that her arm is really stiff."

Yosuke starts to smile, "you're shitting me." It makes Yu laugh. "You shitting me? Yeah? Fuck." He laughs. "How can you joke about that?"

"You really think there's a chance that the train would speed off knowing that there's someone with a trapped arm?"

"I don't fucking know, you can't joke about something like that!" He laughs. He's aware of Yu getting closer to him.

"I could have joked about something way worse."

"It's too serious to be kidding about." Yosuke laughs, making a face.

"I could have joked that she had a dick." Yosuke rolls his eyes, "that would have been going too far."

"Dick." He laughs under his breath, while Yu beams at him.

"Too far." He admits.

"Aluminium technology huh..?"

"That's what gave it away?"

"But.. she's cute." Yosuke nods to himself. "Rise." He enunciates the syllables in her name. Looking down at the sink, his hands, hell even his shoes.

He barely notices Yu step closer. He notices Yu's lips close in and they're really close to joining together until a noise stops them and they pull away.

Yosuke goes to the door to see who it was.

"Ai?"


	4. Late night swim at Halloween

"He works all the time." Ai hums, "and it's like money is the only thing that matters."

Yosuke was sat opposite, with Teddie and Ayane either side of Ai. He was on his phone, composing a message.

> Hey thanks for yesterday what's the plan today? Still wanna hang out?

"And he just.." she plays with her mug. "It's like he's a completely different person around his father.. or his stockbroker colleagues."

Teddie's playing with her hair and Ayane comforts her by stroking her shoulder. "He looks up to his father so much. He lights up when he walks in. I get it.. I do. He never got that kind of validation before."

Teddie hums, braiding her hair. "But when he gets that validation.. he's like a kid again. I can't live like that.. alone in London."

Yosuke deletes part of his message and sends off what he has to Yu. Only just tuning in to Teddie complaining about how her being away wasn't easy either.

"It's chaos.. one week I had to wipe with one of Ayane's pads.. and Yosuke.." the boy in question furrows his brows. "He's a great guy but he's so lazy."

"Teddie?" The three of them look at him. "I'm sitting right here."

"Yeah? You should be tolerant hearing that I'm happy that Ai's back. Don't be jealous. You're a friend too."

"I'm not jealous." He huffs, "but we have to find a solution, because if Ai's going to live here again, it'll be four people in three bedrooms."

"Seriously?" The question makes Yosuke blink, "Ai's come home after being dumped by the man of her dreams. Here you are, only concerned about the sleeping arrangements. Just sleep on the floor?"

"I wasn't dumped.." Ai quietly says, "I was the one who left him… we didn't break up. We've.. hit a rough patch.. taken a break. If he actually loves me, he'll follow me."

Yosuke does feel bad for her.. moving to a country she doesn't understand for the boy she loves to just leave her behind.

"I think that.." Teddie starts, "I don't know but.. loads of people leave their spouses and kids go be with the one they love and if he really loves you, Naoki'll choose you. I think it'll work out."

Yosuke's distracted from Teddie's romance speech from a message on his phone.

> Thanks for yesterday, hope everything is okay with Ai. Forgot that I made plans with Rise today, sorry! See you at school.

Ha.. just his luck.. right? Especially after what happened on Friday. He's starting to think he imagined it. He's not paying attention to Ai, Teddie and Ayane anymore.

Monday at school, there's orange notes on every locker. All of them say 'Halloween' in big letters. Yosuke reads the one on his locker and scrunches it up.

He tries to open up his locker. Yosuke puts in the combination but it doesn't open, no matter how much he hits the thing with his fist.

He tries to get it to slot open with his card but again. No luck. It's always him. "Hey." He looks over with a start. It's Yu..

"Hi.." Yu gets closer and leans on one of the lockers.

"You going to this Halloween thing?"

"No.. well maybe. I don't know. You?"

"Come with me?"

Yosuke chuckles softly. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah." 

"Good. Then we'll pre-party together?"

"Yeah." Yu nods and slams his fist against Yosuke's locker, making it fling open.

Yosuke blinks. Woah.. okay.. and behind him was Kou at his own locker. They nod at each other. "Hey." Kou greets.

"Hi."

"Do anything interesting over the weekend?"

"Um.. no." Yosuke forces his locker closed.

"I tried to call you on Friday."

"Oh, yeah. I saw."

"A lot happened y'know?" Why was this so awkward.. "Ai came home, did you hear?"

"Mhm. I heard you had a pre-party."

"Yeah.. yeah I suppose so.. or, well not really but.." He looks down before looking back up at him. "Yumi forced me to have it. She's obsessed about the culture festival stuff so she talked to Teddie about it." He explains he didn't have much choice, that it was more like she hosted it at his place. "Trust me, you haven't missed out on anything."

"It's Kanji's birthday on Saturday."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, so Daisuke and me we're thinking of doing something cool for him."

"Yeah! I'm all in."

Kou smiles, "yeah?"

"We can make sure he'll get to have sex for the first time."

Kou laughs, "for his birthday, yeah, that'll be awesome."

"We could call one of those dancers."

Kou lights up, "oh yeah!"

"I know he liked them, so.." 

"Or Yumi" Kou suggests, making Yosuke laugh.

"Yes! Oh god."

"He can live out his sadistic dream." They laugh together, heading to class.

Later on in the day, around lunch time, Naoto's with him, helping with their biology work but he's distracted with texts from his dad. More useless bullshit that doesn't mean anything.

"Agree?" Naoto asks after reading a section from a workbook. Their face immediately drops. "Can you focus, please?"

Yosuke hums and puts his phone down. "Naoto, I have a question." They hum, "People of religion.. there's loads of people who study science and are of religion, doesn't their teaching go against what science says?"

Naoto glares slightly, "does religion bother you?"

"No, no, but.. to believe there's a right or wrong.. and that there's a God who decides it, and says for example, homosexuality is wrong." Naoto's eyes squint at the mention, "or eating dogs or something.." he says softly.

"Okay, then. What do you believe, Yosuke?"

"Me? Science. Y'know the theory of evolution and nothing else."

"Okay, so let's look at the theory of evolution. Explain homosexuality within the terms of natural selection." Yosuke gives a confused hum. "Evolution wise, homosexuality is a genetic dead end. Homosexuals don't move the world forward. Don't reproduce. So according to the theory of evolution, they should have gone extinct millions of years ago. Unless it's not genetic, but a mental illness or a choice you make." Naoto asks about Yosuke's thoughts.

"I don't fucking know, I don't walk around thinking about homosexuality all the time." He defends.

"No. So since you don't know the answers, we can agree that there's more to everything that none of us know about. Instead of sitting there criticising religion, you can respect that there's going to be different beliefs."

"Okay, whatever."

No one can add anything else to the conversation because Saki arrived at their table. "Hi!" She grins, "I talked to Rise and she was wondering if we could pre-party at your place?"

"Huh?"

"Rise? Yu's girlfriend?"

"Yeah?"

"She said you and Yu planned a pre-party for the Halloween party.. with us?"

"Uh.. yeah.." honestly Yosuke thought it was just gonna be him and Yu…

"Yeah! Cool." She smiles, "Rise and Yu are dressing up as Dracula and a female vampire. It'd be cool if we matched as well." She suggested things like a cat and a mouse, Batman and Batwoman. "If you think it's fun, I mean." Her phone starts to buzz so she takes it out of her bag, claiming that she'd text him, and leaving to answer her phone.

Naoto couldn't suppress their smirk, "What?" Yosuke asks them, "shit.." he mutters, continuing with their work.

Friday night. It's just Rise, Yu, Saki and Yosuke.

"It's strange not having something to do." Rise hums to Saki. "Since leaving school I miss having something to do during the day. I'm pretty bored."

Just as Saki had said, Yu and Rise had arrived as vampires. So Yosuke and Saki had arrived as werewolves. The girls talked between themselves and the boys looked bored beyond belief, Yosuke especially.

Yu takes a drink from his can as he stares at Yosuke who was adjusting his costume. He very briefly locks eyes with Yu before looking away. The girls were talking about the culture festival teams. 

The boys added nothing to the conversation. "This is really nice despite the small age difference." Rise smiles. "It's so nice talking to you."

"Yeah, same for me!"

"Are you a year older than Yu?" Yosuke asks

"No, I was born the same year but Rise was just old enough to catch the year above in terms of placement." Yu answers.

"Hm."

"Hey, can you take it easy with the beer?" Rise whispers.

"Hey, can you stop watching over me?" Yu counters. "I mean it, you don't need to monitor me." His voice is soft, since there's only two others here.

Well.. Yosuke definitely thinks this just got more awkward.. "where's the bathroom?" Rise asks, standing.

"Last door on the right in the hall." Yosuke answers her. Saki stands up too, quietly leaving to follow her.

There's a moment of silence until Yosuke breaks it. "I heard there's a lot of people at the party."

"What time is it?" Yu asks, not paying attention to Yosuke's comment. Yosuke blinks.

"Uh.. 21:21.." Yosuke reads from his phone.

"Really?"

"Yeah.. why?"

"Let's go." Yu decides. 

"What? Where to?"

Yu finishes his can, "anywhere. Hurry up."

Yosuke pauses a second. Where are they even going to go? How are they going to get there? There's his bike but are they really going to ride around all night in Halloween costumes? He starts to stand following Yu. He hasn't steered him wrong yet.

Now they're in the streets. Yu pedals while Yosuke sits behind him. Yu tries all these tricks, like taking his hands off the handle bars, making Yosuke laugh and grin. 

They must look so weird to strangers in the street. A vampire and a werewolf speeding by on a bike.

They joke and laugh and honestly Yosuke's having the best time. Eventually, they pass by a large house and Yu stops pedalling.

"Don't you feel like swimming?" Yu asks, getting off the bike and walks towards the side of the building.

"Swimming?" Yosuke asks, and rightfully so because.. what the fuck?

"Yeah!"

Well Yosuke wasn't going to be left at the side of the building so he follows Yu, getting off the bike.

Yu's kneeling on the floor, at an indent leading to an indoor pool. "Who lives here?"

"My uncle."

"And.. he's okay with us being here?"

"Course, don't worry." That doesn't help Yosuke's worries.

"But.. where is your uncle?"

"On holiday, to the country."

Yosuke chuckles softly, "you don't have the keys?"

"Because he's on holiday." Yu repeats.

"That's your answer to everything."

"Relax! Don't worry!" Yu manages to get the window open. "There we go."

Yosuke throws his arms up in defeat when Yu asks if he's coming. He chuckles and follows Yu inside.

"Okay!" They start taking off the outer layers of their costumes. Yosuke takes off his ears and Yu takes off his fangs. "Why are you so skeptical?"

"I'm not skeptical, but it's a bit weird we're gonna-" he's cut off by a threat to his pride.

"Are you scared of swimming?"

"Scared of swimming?"

"Yeah are you afraid of water?"

"Afraid of water?!" He says loudly with a grin. 

"Afraid of water, yeah."

"This isn't my uncles house." Yosuke defends.

"Oh I see, you're scared of fucking up your hair."

The comment makes Yosuke laugh, pointing to his hair, "you think I care about my hair?"

Yu laughs more, "what am I supposed to think? It looks like it."

"It looks like I care about my hair?"

"Not right now. Usually it does." Yu just finished his sentence when Yosuke pushes him in, falling in himself.

"Fuck!"

Yosuke stands in the water, moving the hair from his face and moves around trying to find Yu. He sees his silhouette and smiles, watching him rise from the water and move his hair from his face.

"Did you think I died?" Yu asks.

"Yeah, I got so scared, man." Yosuke grins.

The boys giggle and grin at each other. "You suck at holding your breath." Yosuke. teases.

"I suck?" Yu laughs, "fuck you, you try it then."

"You're challenging me?"

"Of course!"

"I'm the master of holding my breath." Yosuke boasts.

"Show me."

"Okay fine." Yosuke pinches his nose and lowers his head underwater before coming back up moments later. It gets a laugh from Yu. 

"Wow." Yu smiles, "you never cease to impress."

"I got water in my lungs!" Yosuke defends.

"Yeah right."

"I swallowed water!"

"Okay," Yu says teasingly.

"I need another try."

"Let's do it together."

"Together?" Yu nods.

"On three."

"Last one to come up loses." They agree.

"Ready?"

"On three, no, on one." They nod.

"Three, two, one!" They take a deep breath and hold it as they dive underwater. They stare at each other as they hold their breaths, watching each others' movements.

After a bit of playful cheating, Yu closes in, gets closer to Yosuke. Yu crashes their lips together, giving Yosuke that kiss that he couldn't at the end of the pre-party. They rise from the water, gasping for air.

Yu grins, "yes!"

Yosuke smiles in disbelief, "yes, what?"

"I won!"

"Huh?" Yosuke laughs, "you won? That was cheating!"

"You kidding?" Yu laughs.

"That was cheating!" He insists

"You think there's rules?"

"Yes!" Yosuke laughs.

"Is that what you think?" Yu grins.

"That's just cheating! You can't do that." Yosuke laughs, "I can't accept losing like that."

"Okay, let's do it again, then." Yu agrees. They take another breath and dive under. Almost immediately, Yosuke was the one to close the gap between them.

Yu kisses him back under the water, and obviously, they can't stay under there. Yu cups his jaw and rises above the water with Yosuke bringing their lips together again and again. 

The water drips from their chins as they kiss. Yu pulls back briefly and smiles wider, bringing their lips together again. The only thing Yosuke can think of is.. he's kissing Yu.. Yu's kissing him.. he likes it. He really likes it.

But then his eyes flick to a young boy stood at the edge of the pool. Holy fuck how long was he standing there? The boy immediately yells for his dad and the two teens in the pool race to get out.

What the fuck? Yosuke thought Yu said the place was empty!

"Fuck fuck fuck!" Yu curses.

"What the hell!" Yosuke says, wary of the young boy still at the edge of the pool. "Who the hell is he?" Yosuke asks.

"Uh.. this isn't my uncle's house." Yu admits.

"Whose house is it?"

"Someone I used to go to school with."

.. _What_?!


End file.
